Chance The Rapper, Metallica lead music education charge

From direct funding to schools, raising proceeds at concerts and donating instruments, GRAMMY winners are giving back to keep music in the schools

Brian Haack

GRAMMYs

May 15, 2017 - 2:36 am

GRAMMY.com

Amid a slew of shout-outs to family, friends and supportive team members, Chance The Rapper's acceptance speech for Best New Artist at the 59th GRAMMY Awards was punctuated by a memorable statement of gratitude for the city that raised him. Met with immediate cheers and applause, the heartfelt thank you to "all of Chicago" doubled as a subtle unifying statement in the face of the city's storied regional divisions.

Chance The Rapper has a commendable track record as a public champion for his hometown. In the past year he was named a member of the Board of Trustees for the city's DuSable Museum of African American History, he met personally with Gov. Bruce Rauner to discuss potential avenues for improvement in the Chicago Public School system, and he launched a major music festival on the South Side.

On March 6, during a widely publicized press conference, Chance The Rapper unveiled his latest effort to bolster Chicago. The rapper announced the donation of $1 million to Chicago Public Schools Foundation to help enrich local arts and educational programs. In addition, Chance will make individual gifts of $10,000 directly to select schools, including Westcott Elementary School, located in his former neighborhood of West Chatham. Furthermore, SocialWorks, a nonprofit group co-founded by the GRAMMY winner, will match every $100,000 raised with an additional $10,000.

Chance The Rapper's generous donation is one of the more recent philanthropic pledges in support of music education from GRAMMY-winning artists.

Metallicarecently announced the launch of the All Within My Hands Foundation in conjunction with their upcoming North American tour. With the aim to "give back and share some of our good fortune," the foundation will donate a portion of funds raised from each night of their tour to select music education programs.

In another gesture of support, rock legend Eddie Van Halen announcedin February the donation of 75 of his signature guitars to public schools in partnership with Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation, a program that provides students with refurbished instruments and access to music education.

"Could you imagine a world without music?" Van Halen pondered during an interview with CNN. "It's a must. … It has to be taught."

These like-minded efforts all speak to the collective importance of protecting and celebrating music education in our nation's schools, an effort The Recording Academy champions year-round through programs such as GRAMMY Camp and recognitions such as the Music Educator Award. They also underline a key call to action expressed by Recording Academy President/CEO Neil Portnow during his 59th GRAMMY telecast remarks.

"The Recording Academy, together with America's music makers, call on the president and Congress to help keep the music playing by updating music laws, protecting music education and renewing America's commitment to the arts," said Portnow.

Chicago Bulls take a Chance on music education

Chance The Rapper's philanthropic efforts bear fruit as major sports teams and stars follow his lead to support music education

Brian Haack

GRAMMYs

May 15, 2017 - 2:36 am

GRAMMY.com

When Chance The Rapper thanked "all of Chicago" in his Best New Artist acceptance speech at the 59th GRAMMYs, he already had plans to do more than state his gratitude. After his first meeting withIllinois Gov. Bruce Rauner — after which Chance publicly expressed frustration with the meeting's lack of substance — Chance took matters into his own hands and made a historic donationof $1 million to the Chicago public school system. Chance stated at the press conference he wanted "to bring light and attention to public school funding, broken formulas and especially how it affects [his] hometown," adding, "We can all really get involved here."

His words did not fall on deaf ears. Chance made a follow-up announcement this week that the Chicago Bulls' basketball organization has partnered with him to make a matching donation of $1 million to area schools. Furthermore, Chance The Rapper announced that SocialWorks, a nonprofit group he co-founded, had launched theNew Chance Arts & Literature Fund. The fund will "bring arts programs and materials to schools that have experienced a decrease in five-year graduation rates, addressing their budgets, textbooks and music programs."

Alongside the Chicago Bulls, Seattle Seahawks' defensive lineman Michael Bennett cited Chance The Rapper as his inspiration to do more to give back to his own community. Accordingly, Bennett announced last week he would donate all of his 2017 endorsement proceeds and 50 percent of his jersey sales to programs funding science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics programs through his own nonprofit, the Bennett Foundation.

OneRepublic, Cisco Make Historic Donation To Support Music In Schools

The funds will go to support needy public high school music programs via the GRAMMY Museum's Signature Schools program

Brian Haack

GRAMMYs

Sep 28, 2017 - 3:42 pm

The members of OneRepublic have teamed with technology company Cisco to make a special donation to needy schools by way of the GRAMMY Museum.

A commitment to the Museum's GRAMMY Signature Schools program, OneRepublic — via their charitable organization, Good Life Foundation — and Cisco are donating $100,000 as a series of $5,000 grants to 20 U.S. public high school music education programs that have demonstrated significant need.

"We are so grateful for Cisco and OneRepublic's Good Life Foundation's support of music education in public schools across the United States," said GRAMMY Museum Executive Director Scott Goldman. "Through their generous donation … we will provide much-needed funds to 20 schools across the United States, making music education possible for hundreds of students who otherwise might not have had access to it throughout the country."

This show of philanthropy is one of the largest-ever donations in the history of the Signature Schools program. In addition to the funds, Cisco will assist each school with implementing its proprietary Cisco Spark enterprise collaboration program, which will allow teachers and students to communicate, share and create both in and out of the physical classroom.

"We believe that music education in this country, and around the world, is extremely important and a vital way to inspire future generations of musicians and people who love music," said OneRepublic frontman Ryan Tedder.

Historic scholarships awarded by Latin GRAMMY Cultural Foundation

Record-setting amounts awarded to select music students around the world by the Latin GRAMMY Cultural Foundation

Brian Haack

GRAMMYs

Jul 28, 2017 - 1:24 pm

GRAMMY.com

The Latin GRAMMY Cultural Foundation's charitable support for music education programs around the world has topped more than $2.5 million in just the few short years since the Foundation launched in 2015.

However, just this week, the Foundation has announced its largest-ever series of scholarship awards for a single year, with a whopping $870,000 being awarded to 44 select Latin music students from around the world.

The monies include the Foundation's yearly flagship Miguel Bosé Scholarship, which this year will provide $200,000 in tuition support for 22-year-old Dominican electric bassist Ernesto Núñez, who will be entering Berklee College of Music this fall to study contemporary writing and production.

Additional Gifted Tuition Scholarship awards were presented to Andres Guerra, 21, a classical guitarist from Venezuela; Nikola Vasiljevic, 17, a Dominican bassist; and Carolina Mercado, 22, a tenor saxophonist from Mexico, in the amounts of up to $100,000 for each student.

Guerra and Vasilijevic will each be attending Berklee, while Mercado will attend the School Of Jazz at New York City's prestigious The New School.

Rounding out the distribution, 40 additional students attending various schools in Colombia, Mexica, and Spain will also receive Tuition Assistance Scholarship grants of up to $10,000 each.

"Thanks to our generous donors, involved artists, and compassionate partners, we continue to be in a strong position to provide support to truly talented Latin music students in need and with the tools to pursue their dreams to follow in the footsteps of their Latin music icons," Said Manolo Díaz, Senior Vice President of the Latin GRAMMY Cultural Foundation.

His latest effort? He's inviting all students who want to make movies to submit proposals for his new music video.

Billboard gives the background on Chance's Tuesday tweet inviting Chicago public school students to submit ideas for a chance to direct the new "LSD" video featuring Chance and Jamila Woods, a Chicago poetry activist and musician who defines her success by developing the success of others.

The only requirements for entry are a music video treatment submitted in PDF format, and a passionate interest in film. The winner will be on set for a pro shoot based on their idea, and runners-up will be invited to participate in film instruction and development events.

Through programs like GRAMMY Camp, The Recording Academy provides high school students with similar development opportunities. The camp, a five-day nonresidential summer music industry program for high school students taking place this summer in Nashville and Los Angeles, features career tracks such as songwriting, audio engineering and video production, allowing students to get hands-on experience and a head start on their chosen career path.

The Academy continues to applaud Chance's efforts to support arts education in his hometown Chicago, and we are extremely excited to see which student will get to join him in pursuing their dream of making films.

Some of the content on this site expresses viewpoints and opinions that are not those of the Recording Academy. Responsibility for the accuracy of information provided in stories not written by or specifically prepared for the Academy lies with the story's original source or writer. Content on this site does not reflect an endorsement or recommendation of any artist or music by the Recording Academy.